chevy needs to bring back the beretta name. make it a rear wheel drive platform to compete with those toyobarus. keep the 4 banger. one can be all natural and turbo the shit out of the other. imagine it a Beretta SS
Doughbodyboy Not going to happen, since GM would have issues, (have to pay) the gun maker of the Beretta gun to use the name. Besides, GM screwed the Beretta name up so bad, many would not even consider one, sort of what Ford did to the Escort.
The Quad4 was an amazing engine despite all of it's problems - which were many. The W41 version in the Olds' cars made 190HP and redlined at 7400rpm... it was like an American, late 80's version of the Integra Type-R.
Had one of these when new, I tried to love it, looked awesome and had the power to pass no problem. Put it in 3rd on the road and hammer it and it took off. Sadly the POS broke down so much I had to bail on it. RIP Beretta GTZ, you really fucked me in the end.
25 years ago, my uncle had purchased a 1990 Tonka Yellow Chevrolet Beretta Indy since it was fresh off a Chevrolet dealer lot and he still have the Beretta Indy. I loved that car because of its Corvette-esque engine & the digital instrument panel setup. I noticed some fit-and-finish issues along with some cosmetic problems such as loose exterior window trim moldings, a severely cracked dashboard that's about to come off, a chipped air dam, slightly discolored "Beretta Indy" decals due to lackluster paint finish, and a spoiler that's cracked by an ice storm in 2014. I can't stop saying "thank you" to my uncle for keeping his Beretta Indy alive & well.
Brings back good memories ... my first new car was a red '89 Beretta GT. My new Mazdaspeed3 reminds me a lot of my old GT, but with about an extra 130 HP. Still gets 30+ on the highway too! My next new car will probably be a Chevy Volt.
GM quit making the Quad 4 to make room for the 2.4l Twin cam, because people were complaining that it was noisy. That and OBD2 made its entrance in 1996 into most GM and Ford cars and trucks. The twin cam came with balanced shafts, a different PS pump setup, and a new intake system to damper the noise. That is the reason they stopped making them. Its called NVH, and it happened to your honda as well.
I had a 91 Beretta GT...loved that car. I'd love to have that car back, traded it in for $400 with 250,000 miles on it and running strong. The wheels alone were worth more than $400. I was a weekly watcher of Motor Week too, featuring Goss' Garage.
man, i thought i knew a thing or two about Chevys but i have never heard of the Beretta before until now, i just found this randomly and i gotta say the car looks sharp and its credentials sound promising, me having wanted to own an American car like forever but being in germany a usual big engine American car is almost impossible to afford (running costs) but these rather "small engines" (by American standards) would certainly be worth looking into. i certainly will do my research on them.
I took my Beretta GTZ to the drag strip with a friend, he had a 5.0 mustang He beat me both times we raced but only by about 1 1/2 car lengths. My GTZ was either a 1991 or 1992, i forget which year and his 5.0 was about the same year, an early 90's 5.0. Another friend of mine had a 6 cylinder Camaro, he thought it was quicker than my GTZ, he was wrong, about 3 car lengths wrong. I was able to get my GTZ into the high 15 seconds in a 1/4 mile, 15.8 or 15.9 1/4 mile at our local drag strip. When I bought it, I had no idea it would be as quick as what it was, it would even chirp the front tires when I shifted into second gear, it was a 5 speed manual.. It had a dual over head cam 16 valve 4 cylinder with, from what I was told when I bought it, an aftermarket computer chip, not sure if that was true or not but man it was a beauty. It had a custom black paint job with a couple silver strips that went over that car and very nice Enkei rims with very low profile tires. It was a blast to drive. It was the first car I bought with my own money. Before my GTZ, I had a Sunbird that my parents bought me when I got my drivers license when I was 16. Edit: Didn't know it was a Muncie 5 speed. Muncie is where I was born and raised and where I drove my GTZ around, I still live in Muncie. Pretty cool hearing that fact.
After that, the 2.4l Twin Cam was discontinued in late 2001 because GM announced the end of Oldsmobile as a company in 2000.(which ended up bankrupting them 9 years later.) And they made room for the ecotech, which i believe was designed by some saab and GM engineers. And they used the basic design of the Quad 4 with some tweaks to make it more fuel efficient and to meet government regulations.
I have owned 4 of these 90 gtz's and I have been in love with them since they first come out. I had replaced numerous quad 4 engines but it was all worth it to see the dumb founded look on the rice burner owners face after i passed him like he was sitting still. If you have actually driven one, your opinion would change!!
Owned 4 of them? You love them like I do. The 1990 was my favorite as well. I only owned 1 but to this day it's my favorite car, wish I had it back. Aside from the head gasket, my Quad 4 ran & held up beautifully.
thats a car that served as basic transportation, got the job done. then when they all or most of them went to the scrappers they were easily forgotten about.
it may not be your favorite, but the Quad 4 offered much more power in a smaller package. less weight, more horsepower, and even more torque. The car had it all. and as it turns out, the GTZ was the ultimate Beretta after all. The Grand Am also recieved this engine, and the Oldsmobile Achieva SCX recieved a much more potent 195hp W41 Quad 4. these cars were the fastest of their time. just a shame that GM phased them out with olds to bring that boring ecotec motor here.
To marvel at how much GM has improved since accounting was booted from vehicle development control. In the switch back to an engineering led product development team, GM has begun making world-class product again after an almost 40 year absence from quality engineering. This isn't a bad car, the competition was just much better.
i remember all my friends trying to glue the dash back down cause they always peeled up below the windshield that aside Beretta's were damn good looking cars
If I was going to buy a conventional compact coupe, a V6 Beretta in good condition would be high on the list. Test drove an 88 w/ 2.8L many years ago and loved it, but the deal didn't work out. I'm generally not fond of FWD, and don't really like the quad4, but the Chevy 60degree V6 is one of my favorite small-car engines ever. A 2.8 or 3.1 Beretta is a sweet car.
It had all the looks, but too bad it never drove the way it looked. Still, one of the better American cars you could but in the late 80s and early 90s. They all started to lose their edge by then...
I'd have to agree with 91Taurus. I NEVER see '80s imports on the roads, where as American cars of that era are a dime a dozen. However, on the newer cars, it's more evenly distributed. By the way, 180hp out of a 2.2L I4 is pretty impressive even by today's standards, let alone by those of '90, so GM did do SOME impressive engineering. My first car was an '86 Pontiac 6000 STE. Bought it with 164k miles on the clock, & got rid of it with 225k (original motor & trans). Still lit up the wheels.
I can't argue your personal experience, and I think we should all drive whatever makes us happy. Your vehicle is a personal expression of your tastes and desires. But, the rest (more than 50%) of America seems to agree with me, judging by their purchasing habits for the last ten years...
yah I have had a beretta for 6 years now and just turned over 215,000 on it. It has been a really good car, mine has the SFI V6 though unlike the one in this vid. i got it with 140,000 and havent had any problems accept for general maintenance, and with the V6 and light body it's snappy and quick, and can run or outrun even new cars. overall very good car.
My friend had a 90 gtz and tried to pass me from behind. Turning right from a stop sign to a country road I pulled out and he a little behind me. I got to about 35 and see him changing lanes to pass me in my 68 Impala 327 th400. He had wound out first grabbed 2nd by then. I grabbed 1st, barked 2nd and he didn’t make it next to me and had to get back in his lane lol. Both of us had girls in the car..
I'm fairly confident that 0-60 in 7.5 seconds is very acceptable for a naturally aspirated 4 banger. Even by today's standards. This Beretta would probably run circles around the 2004 Dodge Stratus coupe I once owned.
I had a Grand Am with this engine. I was impressed that 180 hp could be generated out of a 2.3 from the 80's but not impressed with the cracked cylinder head at 90,000 miles! Not to mention all the other problems I had before that! Most unreliable engine I could think of next to the Cadillac HT4100! This is why I drive Toyota now and have been happy ever since without a visit to a mechanic since!
I seem to have gotten one of the few Quad 4's that wasn't junk. I had the head gasket replaced under a quiet "recall" they had & never had another problem. It performed great all the way until the guy I sold it to used it as a get away car in a robbery & flipped it several times. Sadly I saw it, mangled, on the evening news. They said "high speed chase" so it sounds like my Quad 4 ran strong until the end-
@Airox2009 Correction... how many can do it with WITHOUT direct injection and variable valve timing and be stock? Not many! The Quad4 was far ahead of its' time.
Corsica and Beretta got drivers airbag for the 1991 model year and ABS in the 1992 model year. The car in this clip was probably built in 1989 as my 1990 build Corsica has an airbag.
I had one once, that exact same color. Couldn't be any less reliable. Did a lot of work to it, and it handled great. Great gas milage, but so unreliable.
yeah i know what you mean.and yes,there were cool cars in the 80s-90s,like your beretta gtz or a lumina z34,grand prix turbo,etc..but the syclones/typhoons and grand nationals...simply were at a higher level!!
ive had a 1990 beretta GTZ and a 1984 lazer, and the lazer will smoke the GTZ. But when my beretta drivin by a drunk friend hit a pole and cased the rear bumper, it fixed it self, the dent was popped out without a scratch before we got home :) but compared to the 2 i had, the beratta out handles the lazer by far.
Its so funny you mention probe gt's. My brother was obesessed with those cars and still is. He had a probe gt at the same time I had my gtz's. We never actually raced although we talked about it alot. It would have been pretty close I would imagine. Im not going to put down probes, because in fairness I think they are nice cars, but I still would take a gtz anyday over one of them.
I had one of these as a company car. What a shit box! I drove the shit out of it. It lasted two years of heavy, heavy use. Brakes were replaced twice during that time. Anyway, life goes on....
I'm not sure where you live but in Toronto I see tons and tons of 80s and 90s domestics. The 80s japanese cars all rusted out years ago, but I still see at least 5 Chevy Celebrities driving around everyday and they stopped making those in 1989. But do i ever see a '89 toyota, very rarely and it usually has huge rust holes, bumper is held on with ducktape and the engine is knocking. I own two '91 Taurus in immaculate condition, our GTZ also perfect, but our neighbor's '95 civic is all rusted
@Airox2009 Acura Integra Type-R (6.1), Acura Integra GS-R (7.8), Mazda 3s (7.6), Acura RSX Type-S (6.7), Subaru Impreza RS (7.8), Honda S2000 (6.4), Mazda Miata (7.5), Honda Civic Si (99-00: 7.2, 02-05: 7.6, 06-10: 6.3)... The GTZ is a great car, but there are a TON of NA 4 cylinders that will do 0-60 as fast or faster.
of course id also love to have any of them two,or the GN(because of the looks!)but the beretta clearly handles better because of weight,height..,althought the sy/ty´s brake better
MOST of Detroit is engineering comparable vehicles now, but the statement I made was fact. You haven't noticed the lack of 80s and even 90s domestic metal on the roads? But many Honda's, Toyota's, Mercedes-Benz, and VW products of that era are still being driven daily... Thats because the informed owners of cars like this Chevy got pissed at the garbage build-quality and there next vehicle purchase was an import! Thats why the "Big Three" are in the red now.
@RuggerMango The Beretta was hella fast, faster than a Honda Civic Si of the same year. I guess the Si would be behind to the RV's rear bumper the whole time. :)
anyway,those sy/ty`s got very good brake system!btw,ive just found out that there´s a typhoon here in spain(we dont have any american car!).i really would like to travel to the US for buying a GN..here those cars cause a lot of impression,almost everybody likes them!i dont need a gnx,a "normal" gn is enough hehehe.what was their price some years ago?
i thought this gtz would have a 3.4 v6, never knew there was a high output 4 under the hood. im not hating on beretta's but a gsx eclipse would run circles around this heavy car.
I like em more than Cruze, but I felt they're just too mainstream?, its like they needed a side model?? I'm not an expert but in the 90s was the Cavy and the Beretta so different?, i mean i always liked the Beretta more.
Hrmm, must have had shitty gearing but I figured that with 190hp and less weight than my B16 specV, it'd do much better than 15.9. Cool car though, but I always remembered hearing about these quad 4s having some pretty bad issues.
this engine was later replaced by the 3.1 v6 in allot of applications a few years later. 3.1 v6's are highly reliable even today many of them still run great after doing some minor repairs... can the same be said 22 years later for the toyota that you are driving now??? i doubt it.
Too bad American cars never got the dynamics down, I mean they ARE getting better now. A GTI of the time provided excellent handling, but also a subtle ride.. comfortable AND communicative. Steering spot on. Feel top notch. I know, I have a 92 16v GTI. I cannot find any old school road tests for it. In this test the car is having isses with the clutch engaging, poor brakes, harsh ride.. just poorly engineered. I recall a friend wiith one, it broke down constantly, had a low buck interior, cheap seats, just bad.
